From the O.R. to the Office

The time of month for payroll is coming up again, and our accountant is on vacation/furlough now, so that leaves me in charge of doing it! Payroll for the hospital is way more complicated than at home, and everything’s in French and of course everyone wants to get paid the right amount, so I can’t make any mistakes, and I’ve got a deadline to meet and yeah… I’m kinda nervous. I’ve done it before with Melanie, who’s our missionary accountant/office manager, and she’s taught me basically what I need to know, but for the next three months I’ll be doing it on my own so this is a challenge. Working in the office is fun though, and my comrades, Dario, Isabelle and Clotilde, are taking on some of the extra stuff to help me out. (Melanie and Clotilde pictured below)

 

Just this morning I was in the O.R. with Boniface and the surgical team. I tend to get around here. One day I'm in Maternity, another day I'm typing in salaries on the computer and another day I'm washing dishes in the front yard. Some of the staff have been telling me, "Kate, you just do everything!" I guess a little bit of a lot of things. Today I started an I.V. for the first time and assisted Boniface in the hernia surgery. It was my first time scrubbing into a surgery and I was kind of nervous, but Boniface and Orxcance were very encouraging and I basically just handed/held instruments in place until the end when Orxcance taught me how to stitch up the incision. With the Cedarville team here I've been letting them do most of the things they might not get a chance to do before they leave, and since I'm staying longer it works out nicely. Before they came I wasn't confident in the language enough to even try most things, but now I think I could do a lot more.